Pufferfish

Summary:

"Oh my God... " You blinked slowly "You're a pufferfish"Out of all the reaction you had expect from the now skinny and gaunt giant, it was not more blood coughed up as he choked out "Wait what?!" in a raspy voice.You treaded the water cautiously, kicking your legs out slowly to preserve energy "Y'know, a pufferfish... How they like inflate to appear bigger! that's exactly what you just did!""I..." He was at a loss for words as he stared at you with piercing blue eyes as if trying to read your mind. You felt uncomfortable under his gaze as you pushed your fear down and powered on with your confident façade."And by the looks of it, it hurts you just like it can hurt the pufferfish" You tsk’ed, feeling more comfortable with the fact that he was still big but not nearly as giant as he had been before. "When a pufferfish inflates it flattens the organs, causing stress on its body which sometimes kills them"He just sighed in defeat, head hanging "I guess I'm a pufferfish then"

or...

The story of how you, the reader, met Merman!Toshinori, Merman!Hizashi and Merman!Shouta

Notes:

Chapter Text

You had jumped onto the pirate ship just as it was taking off, hair tucked into a hat and a loose shirt tucked into your pants. One look and no one could even tell you were a girl.

You pouted at the sight, not liking the fact that you resembled a boy so much, but for the moment it was perfect, knowing if they found out you had not only boarded the ship without permission but were also a female, you would be thrown off.

You hadn’t planned to stay long, hoping to jump off at the next port.

Now, you weren’t a criminal or a cruel person, you would have totally paid the expense… if you weren’t neck deep in debt already.

News travelled quick around this town, which is where you heard of the pirate ship in the first place and how you found out that the trip would only be a few hours at most, perfect.

The plan was simple and fool proof.

Of course, nothing ever goes your way these days.

If you had of known that these guys were whalers, you would have happily waited for the next pirate ship that came by… But by the time you had found out it was too late; karma had come in the form of a giant monster.

The pirate crew held onto anything bolted down that they could get their hands on, the boat having been shaken to the point of almost capsizing, leaving the crew panicking and run like cowards to get to safety.

The giant smiled down at them all, casting the ship in his shadow, bare chest and muscles gleaming from the water as the tail behind him splashed, drenching everyone on board as the crew stared up at the god-like man in shock.

The frozen state of the crew hadn’t lasted long, and amidst the panic, you felt your hat get thrown off, your long/short hair falling down as you went rigid. Even the giants smile faltered for a second as one pirate yelled “Stowaway!” causing a chorus of others to join in.

“It’s a girl!”

“On the captains’ ship!?”

“That’s bad luck!”

"She's the reason it's here!"

"She cursed us!"

“It’s all her fault!”

Anxiety sparked through you as they grabbed you, shoving you in the direction of the railing, obviously going to sacrifice you as you thrashed and shrieked “Let me go!”

The being stared down at them, though a smile on his face, disgust was in his eyes as they shoved you off the deck, plunging you into the cold water as you spluttered for air.

"You will all pay for you've done to those poor whales, and what you're doing to this poor girl" He said before reaching for you, thick digits wrapping effortlessly around your miniscule body as you yelped and cried out, thrashing to no avail.

Whatever thoughts you had of him crushing you in his mighty grip vanished as you were raised high into the air, vertigo hitting you hard, making you wince.

As soon as you opened your eyes you had the urge to shut them again at the sight of the maw hanging below you. You whimpered attempting to wrap your arms around the thick fingers to try and prevent the inevitable as he gave you an apologetic look before with a sharp shake of his hand, you were dislodged.

The fall was short and the tongue cushioned you as teeth the size of boulders snapped shut behind you. You quickly scrambled go sit up on the tongue, your eyes focusing on the dark cavern that lay waiting for you.

Stumbling around, you tried to gain purchase on the slimy tongue as you realised just how much room there was in the mouth. Never in your life had you felt so small.

You started thrashing again before crying out as the tongue suddenly sprang to life, easily pushing you to the side until you found yourself in between the bottom row and top row molars "p-please! let m-me go!" you sobbed and begged, fearing for your life.

When you didn’t stop thrashing, he put more pressure on you, until you bit down on your hand to stop from doing anything reckless as the teeth above and bellow threatened to crush you.

Outside you could barely hear muffled screams as the giant merman destroyed the large boat, taking it apart and leaving the men and crew to drown or be killed by some other creature.

When you had finally wore yourself out and went limp, the jaw loosened up, giving you enough room to slip out let you go, allowing you to slowly crawl to the front of the mouth to weakly bang on the perfect, pearly white teeth.

No matter how much you pushed or shoved, the mouth didn't budge.

You’d honestly be surprised if it even remembered you were still there, trapped in its jaws with no escape.

You were truly powerless.

You paused at the muffled sound outside... The giant must be underwater swimming somewhere.

What were you supposed to do now? Wait until the giant swallowed you and ended your miserable existence or were you supposed to be a good girl and willingly jump down his oesophagus to your end.

You were about to continue your banging on the teeth when suddenly the mouth lurched, blood forcing its way up his throat as she gasped, the tangy smell of iron filling the place.

You could do nothing but hope it wasn't the blood of other humans who had met their demise in such a horrible way.

the Giants movements were now desperate as the maw suddenly opened, spitting you out into the water, the blood following, as the giant coughed harshly, hand raised to cover his mouth.

You struggled to see as steam suddenly came from nowhere, blocking your view of the coughing giant.

When it finally cleared up you stared in shock, the giant merman almost seemed a little shocked as well as he stared owlishly back, frozen in place.

"Oh my God... " You blinked slowly "You're a pufferfish"

Out of all the reaction you had expect from the now skinny and gaunt giant, it was not more blood coughed up as he choked out "Wait what?!" in a raspy voice.

You treaded the water cautiously, kicking your legs out slowly to preserve energy "Y'know, a pufferfish... How they like inflate to appear bigger! that's exactly what you just did!"

"I..." He was at a loss for words as he stared at you with piercing blue eyes as if trying to read your mind. You felt uncomfortable under his gaze as you pushed your fear down and powered on with your confident façade.

"And by the looks of it, it hurts you just like it can hurt the pufferfish" You tsk’ed, feeling more comfortable with the fact that he was still big but not nearly as giant as he had been before. "When a pufferfish inflate it flattens the organs, causing stress on its body which sometimes kills them"

He just sighed in defeat, head hanging "I guess I'm a pufferfish then"

You couldn’t help the tentative smile before you slowly asked "So, are you going to eat me?"

More blood was coughed into the once blue water.

"N-no! Of course not! I-I just needed my hands and it w-was quicker to swim under water where I d-don’t have to be cautious of boats and..." he trailed off his rambling, watching you laugh in amusement, "Phew, I thought I was a goner!"

"What... " The merman paused as if thinking about how to say it “What were you doing on that ship anyways, if they hadn't of made it so obvious you weren't apart of the crew, I probably would have attacked you too..." He said, using his humongous hand to swish away the lingering blood in the water. You back paddled, not liking how it got so close.

"I was just trying to get to another port" You said softly.

He stayed silent deciding not to ask any more questions as he let himself sinking further into the water with a sigh. it had obviously been a big day for him too.

"Hey, uh, can I have a little help?" You asked, feeling yourself starting to get tired as well.

He glanced down at you, as if not understanding before finally realising and nodding, reaching for you, he scooped his hand under you, letting the water drain out before continuing. "So, what's your... what’s the word... ughhh, was it name? I think so, yeah, what’s your name?" He asked innocently, mumbling some bits to himself as you glanced up "Y/N" you said simply, not bothering to ask for his as you knew he would give it anyways.

"That's a nice name, I'm Toshinori"

Notes:

Just a heads up:Toshinori only noms very bad peopleShouta occasionally noms peoplebut Hizashi rarely holds back and noms everyone :))

Chapter Text

Life had been good since you had met Toshinori, as soon as you had gotten back to land you managed to get a job with enough pay to buy a cheap house immediately and though for the first few days you mostly starved, once you were payed again you had enough to buy decent meals.

You frequently visited the giant, often meeting at a deserted spot before he took you out farther so there was no chance of him being spotted.

You were currently floating on your back, eyes closed as you waited for Toshinori. You had accidently come a bit early from your usually meeting time but there was nothing you could do about that now.

The warmth of the sun suddenly vanished and you frowned before opening your eyes right as a hand came down on top of you, fingers grabbing your ankles and pulling up out of the water.

You stared at the hand holding you, unlike whoever this was, Toshi had a slight tan.

This wasn’t Toshinori.

You didn’t have a chance to react as you were raised to the face of the newcomer. His hypnotising green eyes almost made you feel comfortable and safe until you saw the short shark teeth when he smiled widely, grinning from ear to ear.

The new merman’s eyes lit up as if he had just gotten a Christmas present and you couldn’t help but feel sick to the stomach as you wriggled “W-what-” you were cut off by an unmanly squeal.

“You’re adorable!” He cried out, pressing you to his bare chest as he hugged you, sounding more like a fangirl if anything.

“You’re so small and tiny!” He gasped joyfully, spinning around in the water. You pushed and shoved at his chest, relieved when you felt yourself pulled back only to yelp as you were pushed against his slightly pursed lips.

He didn’t move you back when he started talking again “You’re so cute I could just eat you!” He shrilled, his teeth brushing against your bare stomach as you wished you had of worn a one piece instead of a bikini.

You shoved at his lips, yelping “Stop!” As you were peppered with kisses up and down.

You were about to say something else when you froze, the tongue peaking through his lips dragged across your stomach as you shrieked. He hummed in enjoyment before purring "Toshi was right! you taste like candy!"

You didn't even get time to wonder why Toshinori had been talking about how you tasted when the tongue licked you again making you squirm and yelp, shoving at the bony digits around your waist as the giant sighed dreamily "I haven't had a human that tasted this good in years." Before smiling down at you, "Lucky for you, Toshi would be sad if I ate you, so I'll just stick to taste testing for now, heh"

You were given no chance to object when the mouth opened, tongue sliding across your face before retreating in the maw as you were raised forward, lips clamping down once you were waist deep into his mouth, your legs uselessly kicking outside. His hums seeming to echo around you in the small space, it was tiny compared to when Toshinori was huge.

You froze in fear at the feeling of sharp teeth pressing against your stomach and back, your legs hanging outside his mouth went stock still as you held your breath, feeling the pressure of the jaw get tighter and tighter, the fangs slowly digging into your middle as you waited to be cut in half, only to sigh in relief when it loosened off.

His tongue then came and assaulted your face once more, when it eased off, you gasped at the sudden suction making your ears pop.

He was sucking on you like you were some damn pacifier.

“Hizashi!” a familiar voice suddenly yelled as you almost sobbed in joy, the feeling of hands pulling you out with a pop as ‘Hizashi’ smacked his lips “Sorry, Toshi, you know I cant resist a little taste” he said unapologetically as Toshinori noticed the reddening bite marks around your middle.

He carefully scooped you from Hizashi’s grip, cradling you in his palms as he glared at Hizashi who tilted his head, looking like a puppy that got kicked “Are… are you mad?” he asked meekly as Toshinori frowned “Am I mad? Of course, I’m mad!”

“I don’t understand, I didn’t hurt her” he said softly and Toshinori sighed “but you almost did… I’m proud of you for holding back, though”

At the praise, Hizashi lit back up like a Christmas tree “yeah, it was really hard, I was afraid if I put her completely in my mouth then, heh, she wouldn’t be coming back out” he smiled as he scratched the back of his neck.

Chapter Text

It was your day off of course you were gonna spend it relaxing and sunbathing. Though, you made sure to keep an eye out for Hizashi, not wanting a repeat of that incident…

You would have met up with Toshinori except you completely forgot to tell him you were taking today off and didn't have the first clue on where to find him, even if you did know you probably wouldn’t have been able to get there considering he was probably at the bottom of the ocean somewhere.

You were laying on the beach, enjoying the peace until there was a small splash and the sound of an animal whining and clicking.

It almost sounded like a dolphin…

You were tempted to ignore it but curiosity got the better of you as you packed up your stuff and put it in the shade, though you doubted anyone would come down here anyways.

You ended up being correct in you dolphin theory as you waddled past the rocky shallows, trying to avoid stepping on the coral until you could no longer touch the ground as you began swimming slowly and cautiously.

Glancing past some rocks your eyes widened as you saw that something, or rather someone had already beat you to the dolphin.

The poor thing was caught in a fighting net and struggling to free itself as the giant broke the surface of the water, raven hair falling in his face as he brushed it out of the way so he could see what he was doing.

You watched as he grimaced, fangs peeking out from his lips as the pale merman reached for the dolphin, untangling it carefully before setting it back down into the water and watching it swim off hastily.

The merman slowly sunk back down below the water until just his eyes remained out, staring right at you as you froze, almost forgetting to swim as your head dunked a little bit under the water. You spluttered for a second before regaining control of yourself.

You swam back a bit; you had been lucky the first time that Toshinori was so nice, Hizashi not so much nice, but still eager to meet you.

“H-hi?” it was more of a question than a greeting as you stared into his steely eyes.

The giant didn't reply, still staring as he then reached for you, the muscles in his arm rippling as they were put to work.

"H-hey, hey, no grabbing!" You yelped as he snatched you up any ways, unlike Toshinori and Hizashi who had both been lean and skinny, this one was ripped with a tight grip that radiated power.

"I'm a f-friend! not food!" You cried out as the merman examined you, raising himself up till the water was at his shoulders, bringing you close enough to his face that you could feel his breath ruffling your wet hair.

"Please, please, put me down!" You gasped, wriggling in his grip before you finally had the guts to glance into his eyes again, no doubt one of the scariest features about him.

They weren't hypnotising like Hizashi's, they were more like a confused dog that didn’t know what the command ‘roll over’ meant.

You paused, frowning.

It hadn't once occurred to you that English wasn't their mother language…

He wasn’t ignoring you; he just had no clue what you were saying.

It actually made a lot of sense, you had noticed Toshinori hadn't been too sure of some words he said but you thought it was just because he hasn't spoken to anyone in ages.

Of course, Hizashi the eccentric human eater just happened to be the most fluent.

"Shit" You mumbled under your breath as he stared at you before bringing you closer to his face. It took you a second to understand what he was doing when you suddenly yelped, "Are you sniffing me?!" miffed at the nose that intruded on your personal space bubble.

"I know Toshinori and Hizashi!" You said the names clearly and slowly, watching as the giant pulled away abruptly, recognition in his eyes at the names.

Before you could give a victory dance to your quick thinking you were tossed into his mouth, landing with a splat on his tongue as you froze.

Maybe this giant wasn't friends with them?

Crap.

You scrambled onto all fours right as the mouth closed, sharp teeth clicking together and sealing you in darkness as your heart raced.

You felt the muscle under you moving as you tumbled, thankfully, forwards to the front of the mouth instead of the back where the throat was.

Pressing yourself up against the serrated teeth that blocked your exit, you curled in on yourself, unsure of what was happening as movement happened all around you, the heart beat of the giant thumping around you.

Maybe he was swimming? taking you to a more secluded place where he could enjoy his meal in peace.

You should've just gone to work, then you wouldn’t be in any of this mess.

Your panic started to set in as saliva pooled its way around you, drenching you as you glanced fearfully to the throat that lay so close.

You couldn't help but scream when the tongue moved, pushing you forcefully up against the hard palate, knocking the wind out of you as you felt a suction threaten to pull you down to your doom.

Though, you were rather surprised to find that instead of you, it was the saliva gone.

You stayed stock still on the tongue, waiting for the giant to change his mind and be done with you.

When nothing happened for a few minutes you finally let out a sigh of relief, heart racing as you clutched your chest as if it would slow it down.

"Thank you... For not eating me." Yet.

Although the giant couldn't understand what you had said, he probably heard the gratitude in your voice as he let out a grunt, shaking you to your core as you tucked your legs in closer to yourself, not wanting to be accidently thrown into the razor sharp teeth and lose a limb.

After what felt like ages the ride was over, fresh air making you shiver as fingers reached in to grab you, wrapping around your waist and pulling you from the darkness of the maw.

You found yourself quickly dunked in the water, fingers giving a half-hearted attempt to rub the saliva off before you were dragged back up and hung in front of a shocked Toshinori’s face.

You flinched when the giant holding your life in his hands started speaking in a language you didn't recognise.

Chapter Text

(Shouta's POV)

"I'm not going to lie, I have no clue what it said but I know for a fact I heard your name in there, Toshinori" Shouta scolded, holding the wriggling human in front of him as the blondes face morphed into one of distress "I-I she's harmless I swear! And she promised she wouldn't tell anyone about us" He rambled nervously, glancing from the confused human to Shouta.

"Uh huh" He grunted, not convinced as he fixed Toshinori with his signature glare "if it had of just been your name, I would have just thought it was a word of their language, but, as it is, I also happened to hear Hizashi's name in the same sentence"

Toshinori paled even more, Shouta could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to think of an excuse.

If he hadn’t of been holding the human, he would have crossed his arms to up the intimidation, Toshinori almost always broke when he did that.

"Look, I don't even know how she managed to meet Hizashi and come out alive, considering his voracious habits" Shouta said sternly as Toshi shrunk down further into the water, the raven haired merman was sure that if hadn't of been holding the human, he would have bolted by now "But by letting her live and go back to her human life, you're breaking every rule we have"

The older of the two almost trembled under his harsh gaze as Shouta felt the human becoming more and more nervous as she watched Toshinori become more and more panicked.

He brought the human back up to his face, she was still mumbling things he didn't understand as he stared at her before turning back to Toshi "How do you even know you can trust her? The last time we trusted a human, I almost lost my eye and my arm" He hissed, motioning to the scar under his eye and the starburst shaped cicatrix on his elbow, it still hurt sometimes.

"That was a long, long time ago, Sho... The humans aren't as bloodthirsty as they once were. I know your still mad at them for betraying us, I know how it feels, I had my fair share of evil humans too" The blonde said softly, reaching forward to stroke the scar under his eye with a thumb before pulling back to wrap and arm around his own scar on the left side of his abdomen, asking "What was she doing when you found her?"

Shouta paused "I don't know" He answered truthfully, scar tingling from where Toshinori touched it, "I was helping a dolphin from a fishing net when I saw her, I think she heard the splashing and came to investigate"

Toshinori then turned to the human who was still wriggling and asked in English "Would you have helped the dolphin of Shouta hadn't of been there?" He asked and she froze at the sudden attention "Yes! " she answered hastily and Toshi smiled at Shouta, who even though he didn't understand what they said, could get the gist of it.

He sighed, watching as Toshi reached for the human only for Shouta to pull back, the human now close to his scarred chest as he glared at Toshinori with a small growl.

The human shrieked at the noise and Toshi blinked owlishly, wondering what Shouta wanted from him as raven-haired man said "Before you go running off, I'd like to know why you thought it was safer to introduce her to Hizashi and not me"

Toshi turned a guilty shade of red "I, uh... Hizashi found out by accident when he smelt her on me and sought her out himself"

Shouta gawked "Wait, you're telling me Hizashi was alone with a human and didn't eat it?" He asked slowly as Toshinori nodded "I mean, he was sucking on her like a lollipop but, hey, she's still in one piece?" He winced remembering how he had almost had a heart attack at the sight.

Shouta just sighed before shaking his head, glancing down at the human who had finally worn herself out, he gently let her drop into the water only for Toshi quickly grab her when she weakly struggled to stay above the surface.

"So, what's her name?" He asked, watching at as Toshinori mother hen'd her, checking to make sure she wasn't hurt as she leaned against his slightly curled fingers.

"Y/N" Toshi answered, making the human glance up to her name before he glanced back down at her and said in English "This is Shouta, he looks scary and is kinda scary but when you get to know him, he gives the best hugs" He chuckled, thanking God that Shouta didn’t know English as the human ran a hand through her hair.

(Your POV)

"He is scary" You agreed "And his teeth are bloody sharp" You shuddered, unlike Toshi's mostly blunt teeth and Hizashi's short shark teeth that had given you a heart attack when he nibbled on you, Shouta's were longer and more serrated, the perfect length to skewer you like a shish kebab.

Toshinori's face went red as he scratched the back of his neck and glanced to Shouta "heh, you don't really have to worry about him eating you, he only eats the occasional human, unlike Hizashi"

You nodded, still unnerved that he ate humans at all.

"So, why were you swimming today anyways? don't you have work?" He asked, lowering himself up to his neck in the water as Shouta did the same.

"I forgot to tell you I was taking today off, I would have come looking but i didn’t know where to find you" You said sheepishly as Toshinori shook his head "No worries" before his eyes widened Oh, actually, wait here a sec, I'll be right back!" he said before sliding you gently off his palm and into the water, diving under and leaving you alone with Shouta.

You awkwardly floated there for a second, having a mini staring contest with the raven-haired merman before a particular knot in his hair caught your attention, you decided to swim forward a bit, watching Shouta tense as you asked "Can I fix your hair?"

He tilted his head and frowned as you bit your lip before motioning to your hair "Can I fix your hair?" You asked slower, showing yourself unknotting your own hair before he blinked owlishly at you, slowly ducking down into the water until only his eyes were left above like before.

You gave a hesitant smile before doggy paddling forward slowly before getting to the knot, using your small hands to undo it before your found yourself tangled in his locks. You noticed, unlike Hizashi who's hair he obviously took care of, Shouta's looked like he hadn’t touched it a day in his life.

"Oh, of course" You growled in exasperating, wriggling a bit as he snorted in amusement, reaching out to untangle you himself before letting you ungracefully fall into the palm of his hand "any chance I can stay here for a sec and catch my breath?" You asked, laying limp as a noodle.

He stared at you with no idea of what you just said before wrapping his fingers around your body.

You yelped and twitched, obviously confused before watching Shouta made the action of sucking air in and holding it in his mouth, you stared confused for a while before your eyes widened and your quickly held your breath as you were pulled under.

Struggling in his grip for a second before deciding to save air go limp, you looked around, squinting in the water until you saw what he was pouring at.

It was a beautiful coral reef with all sorts of colourful fish and plants.

You blinked, wanting to get closer before realising it was too deep and you wouldn't have enough air, your lungs already screaming as he raised you above the surface, letting you take in greedy gulps of air.

Hearing the sound of something approaching you saw Toshinori smiling widely at them "Just what I was thinking, Shouta!" He cheered, holding out a scuba set to you as you gawked "Where did you get this from?!"

He shrugged "I found it"

You wasted no time in slipping into it, checking all the devices to make sure they worked before you clapped your hands "I'm ready"

You allowed Toshinori to hold you as he swam down before he let go, letting you swim with the flippers to explore the reef at your own pace.

After having a small look around, you glanced back to see what the Giants were doing, seeing them conversing as they sat still on the sandy ground, small fish covering their tails as they cleaned the scales.

You hadn’t yet had a chance to get a good look at Shouta's tail yet and gasped at the sight.

Unlike, Toshi's blue tail and Hizashi's green one, Shouta's was a deep scarlet red with flecks of black and dark grey all over it. Glancing down at your legs, you wondered what your tail would have looked like if you were a mermaid.

Chuckling you glanced around again but froze at the sight of a shark.

It wasn't heading towards you but you didn't want to take any chances as you bolted towards Toshinori, hiding in his wildly floating blond hair.

"Y/N? what's wrong?" He asked in English, you pointed at the shark before realising with your dark scuba set on, you probably stood out in Toshi's bright yellow hair, glancing over at Shouta who was watching them curiously, you noticed his hair was dark enough to hide you perfectly.

You then weaved your wave into Shouta's longer hair who remained rigid and stiff, unsure of what you were doing as he glanced at the shark, it looked pathetically miniscule compared to the merman.

Toshi's eyes narrowed "just stay near us and it won’t bother you"

You nodded, swimming until you were behind Shouta's ear, gripping onto the outer, shell like part of his ear, peaking over it to keep tabs on the shark as the two giants resumed their conversation.

You didn't move until you couldn't see the shark anymore, slowly swimming out from behind the man's ear as he glanced at you, confused.

You just gave a little wave before swimming off to explore again, curiosity getting the better of you.

Though you were back before they knew it, crying out as you bumped into Shouta's face who flinched back, opening his mouth to scold you even though he knew you wouldn't understand until he almost choked, you had bolted right into his mouth willingly, huddling up to the side as he slowly closed his jaw, a dumbfound look on his face as he glanced to Toshi who held back a laugh as he made a swipe for the shark, deliberately missing and watching it bolt off, knowing it wouldn’t come back.

You were able to finish your scuba diving session in peace, that was, until the air tank ran out.